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The notion of a miraculous genius being born smarter and more
capable than the rest of us mere mortals charms our curiosity.
Robert Greene, author of the popular The 48 Laws of
Power (Penguin, 2000), would disagree. The fascination we
have in prodigies, he says, is "bogus. It's completely bogus."
Exceptional talent is about hard work, he says.

Greene studied the lives of exceptionally successful people for
his latest book, Mastery (Viking/Penguin, 2012). He says
that there is no such thing as being born into superior success.
Rather, those politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, athletes
and artists who rise above the rest in their field, achieving
what he calls a "high-level intuitive feel" for their specialty,
have an unyielding focus and work ethic.

"It's not a question of some natural talent or brilliance that
you have, it's that you have reached that level of experience or
practice," Greene told Entrepreneur.com. "We have to get rid of
that old-fashioned notion of genius and creativity." He holds
himself to the standard he preaches, having put in more 20,000
hours researching and writing his last five books.

In Mastery, Greene examines the cultural poster-children for
natural-born genius: Mozart and Einstein. For example, by the
time he was 9 years old, Mozart had already put in 10,000 to
20,000 hours of work, equaling the efforts of an average person
in his or her 20s, says Greene. Einstein attributed his own
success to persistence, he says.

Greene developed a near cult-following for his methodical and --
some say -- Machiavellian breakdown of power and the people who
wield it in The 48 Laws of Power. Part of what makes
Greene popular is that he studies powerful people and then breaks
down their process such that others can emulate it. Here are
recommendations from Greene for entrepreneurs eager to be the
next Steve Jobs.

1. Chose a topic to focus on that you are deeply in love
with.
"Masters and highly successful people are emotionally and
personally engaged in their work" on a level beyond intellectual
curiosity, Greene says. It's the personal commitment to a topic,
problem or skill that is ultimately necessary for motivating and
maintaining the long hours and fervent curiosity required to rise
to the level of "mastery" in a field. "Otherwise you are never
going to have the energy, the patience, the persistence, the
ability to put up with the criticism, you will give up too
easily, you won't push through all the crap the world is going to
throw at you."

2. Skip all the extra school. Learn by
doing.
According to Greene, learning
entrepreneurship in school is inane. "Being an entrepreneur is
making something, it's like Legos," Greene says and the best way
to become an entrepreneur is to try building businesses.

Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed miserably,
notes Greene. "You want to actually psychologically desire
failure because it is how you are going to learn." If you aren't
going to start your own business, at least work in as small a
company as possible to learn as many skills as possible. Avoid
large corporations and business school, Greene says. As an
entrepreneur, "you are going to hire the people that have the
MBAs. They are going to bring in that nuts-and-bolts knowledge."

3. Don't focus on making money in your
20s.
"Tune out the idea of making your first million. It's about
learning. You are there to accumulate as much experience building
a business and you want to build several, if possible," says
Greene. In the first five to 10 years after college, pursue
experience over money. You will learn more than you could earn in
those years.

4. When you have some experience, select a
mentor.
When selecting a mentor, look for somebody who is already doing
what you see yourself doing in five to 10 years, says Greene. If
you are going to try to approach a master to be your mentor, wait
to do so until you have already started amassing a body of work.

A healthy mentorship relationship is like that between a parent
and a child, says Greene. A good mentor should be older than you
and at a point in his or her career that he or she is wants to
give back. Personality is important, too. "You want somebody who
matches your spirit. If you are a very rebellious type, you don't
want a stuffy conservative type mentor," says Greene.

5. Be flexible and creative.
For the book, Greene interviewed Paul Graham, the computer programmer
entrepreneur who started Viaweb, a company acquired by Yahoo
in 1998 to become the Yahoo Store, and a partner of Y Combinator, an accelerator for startup
entrepreneurs. In the highly competitive interview process for
Y Combinator, Graham "can tell after one minute if he has the
next Zuckerberg or this guy is useless, and it is because they
are open-minded, they're flexible and they love, they are
excited, they have a childlike interest," says Greene.
Building a company will inevitably confront you with
unexpected challenges, and your ability to adjust your path to
deal with those surprises is critical.

Do you believe in the idea of a natural-born genius
or do you think mastery is available to anyone who puts in the
time and effort? Leave a note below and let us
know.